The Truth About Dioxin Analysis: Using HRTOFMS to Uncover Pollutants Ignored by Targeted Analytical Approaches

Dioxins, furans, and related persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are among the most challenging compounds to measure accurately due to their ultra‑low regulatory limits, complex matrices, and extensive interferences. In this on‑demand webinar, Dr. Peter Gorst‑Allman, Director of Separation Science Applications for Africa and Asia Pacific at LECO, explores how high‑resolution GC‑TOF MS (GC‑HRT) and comprehensive two‑dimensional GCxGC‑TOF MS provide powerful alternatives to traditional sector‑based GC‑HRMS workflows.

The presentation begins with an overview of conventional dioxin analysis approaches based on EPA Method 1613, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of targeted SIM‑based GC‑HRMS. While these methods deliver excellent sensitivity and selectivity, they inherently restrict data collection to predefined analytes—leaving other potentially toxic compounds undetected.

Dr. Gorst‑Allman then demonstrates how TOF‑based platforms, which acquire full‑range mass spectra for every analyte, enable both regulatory‑level quantitation and broader sample characterization in a single analytical run. Using real soil and sediment samples, results from a Pegasus HRT high‑resolution TOF system are compared directly to those from a sector GC‑HRMS, showing strong correlation and compliance with EPA 1613 performance requirements. The webinar also explores the role of GCxGC‑TOF MS (Pegasus 4D) as a screening tool, leveraging enhanced peak capacity and modulation‑based sensitivity to separate dioxins, furans, and co‑extracted matrix components.

Beyond regulatory analytes, the session highlights the unique advantage of TOF‑MS for data mining and discovery, revealing additional POPs—including PCBs, PBDEs, PAHs, and phthalates—that would not be detected using targeted methods alone. Accurate‑mass confirmation, isotope pattern analysis, and library searching are used to confidently identify these compounds, supporting a more comprehensive assessment of sample toxicity.

This webinar is ideal for analysts working in environmental monitoring, regulatory laboratories, food and feed safety, and POPs research who are interested in expanding beyond strictly targeted dioxin analysis while maintaining quantitative rigor.

Originally presented 07 March 2013.